Mourning for Children in India
Compassion International, an organization that provides holistic child development through sponsorship, faced closure in India. This affected 589 centers serving 145,000 children, staff, sponsors, and churches. I was tasked with creating one of three videos to be sent to sponsors to help them with the grieving process. The video, "Morning for Children in India," was impactful and caught the attention of the CEO, who made efforts to stay in India, even going to the White House and meeting the President. After completing the other two videos, all three were shown live to over 800,000 Compassion staff members and were even featured in the New York Times.
Wait… what?
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – March 1, 2017 – Compassion International, a holistic child development through sponsorship organization, today confirmed that it is taking steps toward ending its child sponsorship programs in the country of India, with its final day of operations being March 15. Compassion’s programs have benefited more than 280,000 children and their families during its 48-year history within the country.
In May of 2016, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) began blocking Compassion from sending money to its two country offices and 589 church partners throughout the country. The Indian government put Compassion on its prior approval list, which requires the ministry to obtain approval from the MHA for each transaction. But any requested approvals have been denied, hindering the organization from paying its staff or funding its programs.
For nearly a year, Compassion has sought every possible opportunity to resolve the situation, including gaining the support of U.S. officials. Last summer, former Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with Indian officials on behalf of Compassion. And on December 6, 2016, Compassion’s General Counsel testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a special hearing to bring light to the situation. However, the Indian government has not lifted its restrictions.
The decision to close its India operations impacts nearly 147,000 babies, children and young adults currently registered in Compassion’s child development programs, as well as 127 staff.
Compassion hopes that it can one day resume working in India by serving the holistic needs of children living in extreme poverty there.
